Just an absolute rave for everything the Parsnipity family ate at Ken Oringer’s cafe and bakery last week! Verveine is quietly gluten free- KO’s daughter, whose name is Verveine, has celiac disease and he created this lovely cafe with her in mind. Her cookbook “Cooking with my dad, the chef” is prominently displayed at the counter.
Every table was full, and even on a December day the outside spots were turning over quickly. It’s counter service, with a long line snaking around bags of various gluten free flours stacked on the floor and an open view of the bakers doing their thing with a sheeter and various mixers and ovens.
Amongst us, we had the spicy turkey sandwich on (all gluten free) ciabatta, the grilled cheese, the tuna melt, and the spicy chili biscuit with egg sandwich. All were exceptional. For pastries, we couldn’t pass up the steaming pan of sticky buns that just came out of the oven. We also had a chocolate croissant- outstanding, and a coconut treat of some sort which I was not familiar with and had an odd texture.
Coffee is kept simple- no espresso drinks, but very good drip or cold brew. Thank goodness- the line was long enough and the wait for the sandwiches was actually quite lengthy. I cannot imagine what trying to fill espresso orders would do to the wait time.
For those of us who must avoid gluten, this place is truly a destination-worthy dining experience. To be able to sample and share all plates between our family was amazing! I can’t wait to go back and only regret that they close at 3pm.
Love this review! I would love to go for lunch. Went there for breakfast and loved everything so much. I gifted friends with Celiac Disease a gf baguette b/c I think that’s the hardest GF item to recreate - they loved it.
Such is my respect for you, etc., etc., that I ordered delivery – which I know you loath (but my respect for you only goes so far) – from them within a week of your post. The crispy rice salad with tofu was a winner: crunchy, tingly, and satisfying. The filling in the chipotle turkey sandwich was also very good. The bibingka sweet was decent, but it suffered by comparison with the more elaborate, layered Goan bebinka.
Nice! I don’t need gluten free, but love the idea of making delicious food for all dietary needs - not some of the sad foods I’ve experienced at other places. Their menu looks interesting. I’ll have to make a point to stop by the next time I’m in the area.
“Loath” is a strong word- I reserve it for instances of millennials ordering delivery of Dunks to their workplace to arrive just as they clock in. I will grant that there can be some appropriate uses of delivery, although whenever possible it is true that we will pickup.
Is the bibingka the thing I likely found to have an odd gummy texture? It would be the only item we tried that I wouldn’t order again.
The spouse and I visited Verveine a couple of weeks ago. We shared a sandwich which came on a baguette bun. The sandwich filling was fine but we both thought that the texture of the bun was odd - maybe not gummy but certainly not very baguette-like. It seemed quite dense and I can’t say that I liked it.
I was careful in my comments to only talk about the sandwich filling. I, too, was not overly wowed by the bread. It is gluten free, of course, but I’ve had better.
This is always my issue with going to gluten-free bakeries, such as Twist (locations in Millis and Burlington). Their gf breads are better than commercial, but not objectively good. The best I can rate them is “not bad for gf bread” but I’d still prefer something else like a lettuce wrap.
The only exception I’ve experienced was outside of the greater Boston area, at Modern Bread and Bagel in NYC.
As I just noted on the Bagelsaurus thread, Mamaleh’s has GF bagels which are made by Orginal Sunshine and according to the bag I purchased from the freezer, are made from “gluten free wheat starch.” Anyways, I like 'em.
Off the top of my head, the rustic flatbreads from Bombay Brunch are naturally gluten free, and are really very good. I understand that an Indian bhakri isn’t everybody’s idea of bread, but we’re adults here at HO and if we can deal with the Odyssey we can deal with varieties of bread.
Of course, hurtling to where we are, perhaps you need to look for gluten-free versions of lapyoshka.
